In November 2016, I
wrote about Bloodlines and sat down for a chat with Mars Bracken. Now as
Bloodlines is celebrating their ten-year anniversary I wanted to see what has
happened with Bloodlines in the past two years. Never disappointing, the
Bloodlines group is readying a new release. From my view point, this will
be a very big deal in SL. Will it surpass prior characters? When I
last spoke to Mars, Bloodlines had a fairly new school created with many
classes. Here I am talking to Mars on
what is going on with Bloodlines now….
SEERSHA: Welcome back Mars, thank you for
taking some time to talk to me today. I have a few questions, I want to
jump directly to the new release of Angels and Demons first….will you tell me a
little bit about each new character and how they fit into the scope of
Bloodlines? When is the release date? Will the HUDs be on
marketplace on the release date? Where is the best place to buy the new
HUD on release date?
The new HUDs will not immediately be on MP, they will be in our main stores.
But soon after we should have them up on the Marketplace and in the affiliate
vendors.
SEERSHA: Will
any of the existing characters merge with an Angel or a Demon character
[similar to the merge of Vampire and Lycan]? Where may interested
residents get more information on these today?
MARS: Players
will be able to merge or hybridize any two races (other than human), so Angel
Lycans and Demon Vampires etc. will definitely be a thing. The Fury HUD will
get an update not long after the initial release, and that HUD will be able to
be used for any 2-race combination, so there won't be a need for another HUD in
each case. At the moment our blog is the most reliable source of information,
but not much will be out officially until release day.
SEERSHA: Was
the release date of Angels and Demons delayed?
MARS: The first
time we officially announced a release date was when we talked about May 4th
and our anniversary on the blog. Fingers crossed we will meet the deadline!
SEERSHA: I
am not a Bloodlines player as of the writing of this article. I visit the
SIM periodically with friends. When I saw the Angels and Demons sign I
immediately thought that Angels will be full of women and the Demons full of
men. Does your group have any predictions that you may share? [I have
since revised that prediction after one woman telling me woman can be bad a$$
demons too!]
MARS: We hadn't
really predicted or imagined any gender split on the races. When we do the
vendor art, we of course have to choose what character will be feature most
prominently, but we try to just create a balance in the representation. We
definitely know a lot of male and female avatars who have expressed interest in
both Angels and Demons, so we'll just have to see how it goes!
SEERSHA: That is such exciting
news! You have spoken to me about emergent behaviors that your team
notices while monitoring the players. Did the concept for Angels and
Demons come from an emergent behavior or another source? Is this the new thing
you referenced to me back 2016? Do you think there will be a significant
number of 1st time players to join the game? What does your group
consider a significant number?
MARS: Angel and
Demons have been requested as races for years now. I think right after we
released Lycans, people asked for Zombies for a few years, and then it shifted
over to Angels and Demons. Now it seems most of our requests are coming in as
Dragons, so that might be next!
We're not sure how many first time players will join because of the Angels and
Demons, but it sounds like there will definitely be some. And we consider any
additions significant!
SEERSHA: Oh
Dragons…interesting. Fire breathing
would do awful things to my hair.
*laughs* Now if someone has never
played Bloodlines wants to become an Angel or a Demon; will they have a level
playing field for exisiting BL players? That is can a brand-new Demon
shoot to the top of achievements without old BL ties?
MARS: Yes, we are definitely creating brand new ranking pages for Angels
and Demons, which should allow people a new arena to compete and achieve in.
SEERSHA: Do you have people in world
using a beta HUD of either class right now? Will there be a lot of help
for users of these new HUDs? Where?
MARS: We do have a
beta HUD that just started today, and will run for a little less than a week.
We kept the test group small, it's under 2 dozen. We may expand that but we're
hopeful we can work out the bugs within that group.
SEERSHA: I
was able to meet and speak to a couple of players who are your Demon Beta’s
inworld this past weekend. I have included pictures of them in this
article. Is there anything else you would like our readers to know about
the new release besides the date May 4, 2018? A link for information?
SEERSHA: You
seemed quite proud last time we spoke about the school on the Bloodlines
SIM. Will you tell me who may attend the classes and a summary of what is
offered?
MARS: BLU [BLU =
Bloodlines University] classes cover the HUDs, Potions, Tools, Metrics,
Achievements, Liege Etiquette, and Turning, as well as Q&A sessions.
SEERSHA: I
have heard some discussing the financial aspects of the game. Can members
benefit financially from the game?
MARS: Currently people
can benefit by opening a Blood or Soul Bank, or by selling or trading Rare
Textures on the Marketplace. We are happy to be in a long tradition of games
like Warcraft, Neverwinter, Guild Wars, and EverQuest which enable players to
collect (and soon craft!) resources for trade or sale to other players.
SEERSHA: I
am a *huge* WOW fan and player. I notice that some stores and some SIMS
ban Bloodlines participants specifically yet not other RP groups. What
are your thoughts on members being banned from locations in SL?
MARS: We don't blame
people for wanting to keep a strict type of roleplay or environment for their
virtual experience or home, and excluding all else. Early on we realized we
can't control who permits the system where, so we just focus on making the game
better and better, and trust that most people will come to realize that having
vampires and werewolves and angels and demons running around on their land can
actually be a wonderful thing!
SEERSHA: I wanted to ask you a few questions about products I found on
Marketplace. I found the Gorgon headpiece quite interesting and
definitely see one in my future. These are the products I would like to
know more about; the “elf” , the Dark Disciple, the Grave Ghoul and the Tesla
Coil. What can you tell me about these products?
MARS: All of
these items you mentioned are from our original stores, which existed
pre-Bloodlines. The Elf and the Dark Disciple were originally marketed to Harry
Potter fans at their big RP sim at the time, in a shop we had called Elixir.
The Grave Ghoul and Gorgon were in a store called Blood, and our sci-fi fantasy
store Acid Rain. After Bloodlines came out, we consolidated all those
non-Bloodlines items into one store, Crypt, and kept adding to the collection
slowly over the years. Recently however we've actually taken the Crypt stores
down in-world, until we can do proper updates on all those products. We love
the Gorgon and the Brethren and the Elf and all the rest, but they all are definitely in need of modernization to fit in with the
progressing virtual reality in SL.
SEERSHA: Is
there anything else you want the readers to know about Bloodlines?
MARS: Just that
we're always open to suggestions! We have several more big updates coming this
year, including our massive RPG Expansion, but we welcome all ideas and have
suggestion boxes on our sims for that purpose.
SEERSHA: I
am an avid reader of all kinds of supernatural lore, with Vampires and Lycans a
particular favorite. How is it that a player may be a hybrid of a vampire
[undead] and a lycan [living]? In most lore Vampires and Werewolves are
enemies. What is your involvement with the lore of each character?
MARS: There are
a fair few games and shows where you can be a hybrid of a vampire and a
werewolf; the Underworld movie series comes immediately to mind. We try not to
write too much mythology at all, so that people are free to roleplay whatever
style they wish. And of course if they wish to ignore the existence of hybrids,
that's ok too.
SEERSHA: Bloodlines
also has a battle or WAR HUD. Is this a different identity or is it any
current BL character participating in combat?
MARS: War is
tangential to Bloodlines, exists on the same site, and there are a fair few
players doing both. We are currently making decisions about how / if War will
be connected at all with our upcoming combat / crafting additions in the
Bloodlines RPG Expansion.
SEERSHA: Where
are your stores located? I am publishing the picture you gave me along
with this questions.
MARS: Our stores are located on our collection of 5 full Bloodlines
islands. We just recently renamed and moved the sims, so that now the 4 race
sims are spokes on the central "Mortal Crossroads", which is where
the human store is located. The Angel and Demon stores (and RP areas) are being
built at the moment, and there's going to be construction ongoing for a while,
leading up to our RPG Expansion.
SEERSHA: Thank you for answering all of my questions. I look forward
to the release of Angels and Demons. I will follow up with you after the
release. I am curious to see what emergences about six months after the
release.
MARS: Thanks
for the opportunity to speak, we really appreciate it.
Population of
Bloodlines as of 5/2/2018: Vampires 34,889; Lycans 6,483; Hybrids 18,563 and
Humans aka Blood Dolls 137,858
To learn more about
each character click on the name for link to the BL page. To locate stores, click on SRUL.
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